Bitcoin Treasuries 💵
Bitcoin Treasuries 💵
Is Bitcoin investment a trend for listed companies? Go long on Bitcoin and shitcoins - Arthur Hayes. Crypto's Black Friday. BlackRock's spot bitcoin ETF has over 300K BTC. Who mined the most BTC?
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Semler Scientific doubles down on Bitcoin
Who? Nasdaq-traded healthcare tech firm ($SMLR).
Semler Scientific CEO Doug Murphy-Chutorian
"Semler remains focused on our two strategies of expanding our healthcare business and acquiring and holding bitcoin … We will continue to pursue our strategy of purchasing bitcoins with cash."
The company plans to use cash to continue purchasing Bitcoin.
On Thursday it announced that it purchased additional Bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to 828 BTC.
The company also plans to raise $150 million to further increase its Bitcoin portfolio.
According to an S-3 filing with the SEC, Semler Scientific will raise $150 million through debt securities.
A portion of the proceeds will be used to purchase more Bitcoin.
The filing reiterates the company's belief in Bitcoin as an inflation hedge and safe haven asset, and confirms no plans to invest in other cryptocurrencies.
Semler acknowledges Bitcoin volatility: The filing acknowledges the historical and potential future volatility of Bitcoin.
Stock down after Bitcoin announcement: Semler Scientific's stock price closed down 2.48% on Thursday and dipped an additional 1.17% in after-hours trading.
Semler joins growing list of Bitcoin-Holding companies
Bitcoin Treasuries reports that public companies around the world hold a total of 308,689 BTC.
Microstrategy leading the pack at 214,400 BTC.
Metaplanet's meteoric rise
A Japanese Bitcoin consulting firm (similar to MicroStrategy) has seen its stock soar after investing in Bitcoin.
They plan to further increase their Bitcoin holdings by tripling authorized shares.
This strategy aims to hedge against the weakening Japanese Yen and capitalize on Bitcoin's growth.
Joining institutional trend
Trend started by companies like Tesla, suggesting a growing institutional interest in cryptocurrency.
More institutions are embracing Bitcoin as a valuable asset.
This trend extends beyond developed nations, with companies like MercadoLibre in Argentina joining the game.
Bitcoin's potential as an inflation hedge is a key driver for institutional adoption.
MicroStrategy stock: Short sellers circle
Large short positions remain: Institutions hold $6.9 billion in short positions against MicroStrategy.
June 06, 2024: Investment research firm Fintel’s ‘The Big Shorts’ list - MicroStrategy has 18 short positions listed on - which is a list of the largest short positions disclosed by institutions to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
The biggest short position is around $2.4 billion.
This short position is the 27th largest among all institutions.
Short Seller confidence slips: Despite large short bets, short-seller confidence is dropping. The short-interest ratio has fallen by nearly 50% in six months.
MicroStrategy stock rallies: The stock price has tripled since December 2023.
The stock is up over 30% in the last 30 days.
This comes despite concerns about Bitcoin ETF competition.
Bitcoin ETF Launch may have impacted MicroStrategy: Kerrisdale Capital argued Bitcoin ETFs could reduce demand for MicroStrategy stock. They believe investors can now directly access Bitcoin through ETFs.
“The days when MicroStrategy shares represented a rare, unique way to gain access to Bitcoin are long over.”
MicroStrategy outperforms Bitcoin: Over the past year, MicroStrategy stock has significantly outperformed Bitcoin.The stock is up 469% compared to Bitcoin's 168% gain.
Block That Quote 🎙️
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes
“The trend is clear. Central banks at the margin are starting easing cycles … We know how to play this game… Go long Bitcoin and subsequently shitcoins.”
Hayes lays out in game plan in his latest blog post - Group of Fools.
He believes recent central bank actions signal a boom for Bitcoin and "shitcoins."
Bank of Canada and European Central Bank cut interest rates, marking a shift in monetary policy.
Historically, Bitcoin thrives in low-interest-rate environments.
Analysts are unsure if the Federal Reserve will follow suit due to inflation concerns.
Hayes predicts a resurgence of the crypto bull market, targeting "profligate central bankers."
Rate cut from the US Federal Reserve, albeit delayed.
Geopolitical pressure will force the US to weaken the dollar.
Rate cut is likely, but not during the politically sensitive election season.
Bitcoin Does Another Black Friday
Bitcoin prices took a tumble on Friday, falling below $70,000 after reaching near record highs earlier in the week.
This drop comes despite strong inflows of investment from institutional sources, as evidenced by record-breaking ETF purchases.
Market Crash and Liquidations: The price plunge triggered a wave of selling across the cryptocurrency market, leading to $450 million in liquidations – the highest level since April.
Possible Causes: Analysts point to a few potential causes for the sudden drop.
Stronger-than-anticipated employment report in the US raised concerns about interest rate hikes, which could dampen investor enthusiasm for riskier assets like Bitcoin.
Disappointment following a livestream by popular investor "Roaring Kitty" may have contributed to the decline, particularly in meme-based cryptocurrencies like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) which also saw significant price drops.
Takeaways: While the price drop is a cause for concern for some investors, analysts reckon that it shouldn't be seen as a sign of a major market reversal.
The strong institutional inflows into ETFs suggest continued long-term interest in Bitcoin, but the market remains sensitive to both economic data and major events, which can trigger sell-offs.
Central Banks Hit the Brakes: For the first time since the pandemic, major central banks in Canada and Europe slashed interest rates this week, fuelling investor optimism for a potential surge in cryptocurrency prices.
The Bank of Canada led the charge on Wednesday, followed by the European Central Bank and the Danish National Bank on Thursday.
Inflation concerns ease: While inflation remains slightly above target in these regions, central bankers expressed confidence that it will continue to decline.
The Fed: Will they follow suit?: The timeline for US Federal Reserve rate cuts remains unclear, but the coordinated actions by its Western counterparts hint at a possible acceleration. Historically, these central banks tend to move in tandem.
A double-edged sword: Falling interest rates can strengthen the US dollar but also reignite inflationary pressures abroad. This could put pressure on the US Fed to follow suit with its own rate cuts sooner rather than later.
Crypto on a rollercoaster: Bitcoin initially surged nearly 7% on the week, fuelled by hopes of imminent US rate cuts. Optimism fizzled on Friday after unexpectedly strong US employment data cast doubt on the necessity for immediate rate cuts.
Unexpected headwinds: Despite the interest rate cuts in Europe and Canada, longer-term global bond yields unexpectedly surged on Friday, dampening investor enthusiasm for riskier assets like cryptocurrency.
GameStop frenzy (short-lived): GameStop stole the show this week with its meme stock revival. Popular investor "Roaring Kitty" returned to social media, hinting at a potential major move with his GME holdings. The much-anticipated livestream failed to deliver, and the stock price plummeted after the company announced a surprise share offering.
In The Numbers 🔢
300,000 BTC
BlackRock's IBIT ETF Surpasses 300,000 BTC in AUM
IBIT Now Holds Over $21 Billion in Bitcoin
Surpassed Grayscale's GBTC Last Week
BlackRock's IBIT spot Bitcoin ETF has achieved a significant milestone, exceeding 300,000 BTC in assets under management (AUM) after just five months of trading.
IBIT's lower fees attract investors
IBIT Charges 0.25% Fee Compared to GBTC's 1.5%
GBTC Holdings Dropped After Conversion
Grayscale's holdings of Bitcoin dropped by roughly 54% after converting to an ETF in January.
Bitcoin ETF market grows
Combined AUM of US Spot Bitcoin ETFs Reaches $63 Billion
US Spot Bitcoin ETFs See Record Inflow Streak
The combined AUM of all these ETFs has reached nearly 883,000 BTC, representing 4.2% of Bitcoin's total supply.
US spot Bitcoin ETFs have also achieved a record 18-day net inflow streak, adding a further $217.7 million to the funds this week.
Bitcoin Production Dips After Halving
Bitcoin miners faced a predictable drop in production following the halving on April 19th. The block reward, which incentivises miners, was cut in half, going from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
Note: Hut 8, another large public miner, had not reported how many BTC it mined in May.
Miners explore alternative revenue streams
Core Scientific is dedicating 200 megawatts (MW) of infrastructure to high-performance computing (HPC) services.
CleanSpark intends to be one of the most active acquirers in the industry post-halving.
Riot Platforms collects power and demand response credits and can sell them to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
Bitdeer generated $100 million in gross proceeds from a share issuance and intends to use that for data centre expansion and ASIC-based mining rig development.
The Surfer 🏄
The total value locked (TVL) in decentralised finance (DeFi) applications reached $192 billion in May, the largest amount since February 2022, according to a report from blockchain analytics platform DappRadar.
CoinGecko said that its third-party email platform GetResponse suffered a data breach on June 5, with attackers exporting 1,916,596 CoinGecko contacts and sending phishing emails to 23,723 emails.
According to Kaiko research, among the 43 exchanges surveyed in Q2 2024, Binance still leads in liquidity, Bybit ranks second, Coinbase ranks third, and UpBit and HTX rank fourth.
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